Sligo ready for Galway
SLIGO are one step away from a Connacht final and standing in their way is Galway this Sunday in Pearse Stadium.
Sligo manager Cathal Corey, who took over at the helm late last year has already guided the Yeats men to their first victory in the Championship when they defeated London in Ruislip back in May.
The Tyrone man said the excitement is building and everyone is rearing to go.
“We went to London and got the job done in London and I suppose we had to wait a week to find out who we were playing and myself and the boys travelled down to Castlebar to watch the Mayo Galway game and Galway won it.
“I was very very impressed with Galway now they are well organised, they are well drilled and well focused and they look to be the only team about that can maybe challenge Dublin, that’s the talk so it is going to be a massive task for this Sligo team but we are going down there and we are just hoping on the day to get a performance.”
“Kevin Walsh at the start of the year took in Paddy Tally from Tyrone as well and I can see Paddy’s handprints all over this Galway team. “He would have been part of the Tyrone team that won the first All-Ireland in 2003 Paddy was trainer at that time and since then he has worked with several he was with Down in an All-Ireland final and he worked with Derry and Donegal so Paddy is very very experienced at University level too.
“He won Sigerson with St Mary’s last year and he is very very experienced.
“He knows how to coach a gameplan and he has Galway off to a tee now and Galway are going to be seriously hard to break down.”
Cathal said having previously managed Sligo that Galway boss Kevin Walsh will know all about Sligo.
“Kevin will know Sligo inside out from having been here a few years and he will know the players well.
“He will have great respect for the players and know what the Sligo players ability is to so Kevin will not need anyone to tell him about Sligo and he will be well ready for us.
“It does give Kevin a real insight into Sligo and he will have a lot of knowledge on us and he will know how to setup against Sligo so he will have a lot of knowledge that way,” he added.
Cathal said: “There is probably no pressure on us people are talking about how when 20 years ago Corofin won the All Ireland Galway won the All Ireland now Corofin have won the Club Championship and they are talking about Galway and the Sam Maguire but that is all the talk that goes with it here.
“Whether there is pressure or no pressure we prepare to the best we can, our team for the game so there probably is more pressure on them they have only lost one match all year to Dublin but you know winning all them games brings a massive confidence to a team and panel and Galway will be very very confident in their ability and the way they are set up and their management team will bring a lot of confidence so I suppose the pressure is on them. They are playing at home in front of their supporters but we just need to keep doing what we are doing.
“We are working hard in training and we just know we are not talking about trying to win the game, we are going down there and playing a Division 1team, we want to see what the pace is like and can we compete with a Division 1 team so for us it’s all about can we get the performance on the day.
“I don’t know if the game was in Markievicz if it would have mattered as such. They are similar type pitches and I know there is a bit more wind around Salthill. I think it adds to the whole excitement the fact we’re travelling up to Salthill and playing Galway in their own backyard and it adds to the occasion,” Cathal said.
Sligo will be without forward Stephen Coen and he suffered a cruciate ligament injury and will be out for sometime.
Cathal said he will be a loss. “You know I’m disappointed on several fronts. Stephen is fantastic for Sligo he has been there for a good few years now.
“He’s a good player for us. He gets scores and creates scores. He’s great to have about the panel he’s good craic and a good sense of humour the boys all love him he is one of the characters of the squad and we will miss him on that note.
“From his personal life too he had started a new job and now having to go for his operation on his cruciate he has to step out of his job now.
“That’s disappointing for him as well and then St Mary’s were going brilliant there and he’s a big player for them and they are going to miss him too.
“It’s just wild disappointing for his whole family and for Stephen to see that he’s missing out on so much.
“He’s in great shape and he had trained so hard all winter there and we are just devastated for him. I do really feel for him because he is a fantastic player and we just wish him all the best and all the best in his recovery.
“Hopefully it is not too long until we see him back in a Sligo jersey.” Cathal said that aside from Coen there are not too many injury worries. “We are not too bad there are just a few niggles here and there. Keelan Cawley is struggling a wee bit, Eoin McHugh is struggling a wee bit. Niall Murphy is a bit tight but you know we would hope that we would get them we have a fantastic physio team and a fantastic doctor and we would hope to have the boys good to go on the day.”
The manager praised dual player Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch for his hard work playing both football and hurling and he’s been a big part of the Lory Meagher side this year too. “Gerard is a fantastic player. In an ideal world I suppose we would prefer if he wasn’t on a field with boys firing sticks around him but he wants to play both.
“He loves his hurling and he loves his football and we were hesitant in letting him go but he was so passionate about playing hurling for Sligo that we couldn’t stop him and we released him to go.
“He got on a plane the night after the Lancashire game and he was straight back training the next day with us and that is the fantastic attitude that Gerard has. He is a good cub and a fantastic footballer for us and the hurling is also his love too.”
Cathal said the lead up this week will see a reduced work load on the players.
“We will still be out and working maybe on shooting and light stuff and not really go into heavy contact.
“You don’t want to be wrapping the boys up in cotton wool either, we need to work on what we need to work on and we just hope we get to Sunday with no injuries.”
He said watching Galway v Mayo it was a game played as expected. “With having watched Paddy Tally with teams over the years we had a fair idea what way the game would go. It was exciting, it was enthralling it was good to watch, it was a real real battle. Probably the football purists might have thought it wasn’t the best football spectacle but we watched the football and there was nothing in it from start to finish it was a close game and just at the last 2 or 3 minutes into injury time Galway got the goal that was the difference and got them into the semi-final so there wasn’t much in it. The second half maybe had a wee bearing on the game but Galway were tight and patient and stuck to their game plan from start to finish. It was an interesting game to watch now.”
Cathal said the Tribesmen have some really decent footballers on the panel. “They have the marquee forwards that we do have to worry about. Damien Comer looks like the number one footballer in Ireland at the minute he is just phenomenal and the crowd love him too.
“He is brave, he is quick, he is fast and he’s not afraid to go past you and score. So he’s a very very dangerous player as is Shane Walsh a couple of very skilful players.
“So players like that we are aware that they are there and we will have to see how we can try and just do our best. Nobody has been able to do it this year yet so it will be hard but we will just have to work the best we can to null their impact on the game.”
He said Sligo captain Kevin McDonnell will also know the Galway players such as Damien Comer well through the Sigerson with NUIG. “Kevin and Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch both played with them on the Sigerson and they are good friends but everything goes out the window too when the ball is thrown in.”
In terms of what needs to go right for a Sligo perspective Cathal said that the key thing is discipline especially seeing as Mayo were reduced to 14 men in the Galway game. “The key thing is discipline and working hard and for us everything needs to go well on the day for us and we need to get the bounce of the ball. We need to get referee decisions to go for us and just every man will need to play the game of his life to give us any chance at all in this game but you know the fellas have worked hard and they give their lives to Sligo and I hope that they can put up a performance to show Sligo footballers are good players and good ambitious players and hope that on the day we do get a good performance out of the lads and the lads give account of themselves in Salthill against probably the second best team in the country and probably the most in-form team at the minute,” Cathal added.
Also looking forward to Sunday is Sligo captain Kevin McDonnell. The Castleconnor man said: “Preparations are going well look we were happy to get over London but this is a much bigger challenge now in Galway one of the top teams in the country at the minute. We are just looking forward to it now. We are just looking to put in a good performance I suppose the League didn’t go as well as it was hoped but we stayed up so we’ve got that monkey off our back but it is a different challenge now in Galway they are a fantastic team they showed that in the League but now we will have to see what we are like against them.
“I know a lot of the boys from playing Sigerson and it is going to be strange playing against them, they are quality boys. I know the talent they have. They are fantastic footballers so just looking to get a crack at them I suppose.
“I watched the Mayo v Galway game on tv and it was a decent game. It was entertaining, maybe the pundits didn’t think so but two good set ups. Obviously we are going to be the underdogs going into the game but Galway showed real quality in the League they were unbeaten for the year bar the League final so it is going to be tough.
“We are just looking to put in a performance and see where that takes us.” He said it was brilliant to be back playing with Sligo after being out injured particularly in the summer. “It makes the winter training worth it playing in the sunshine especially in London with the sun beating down on you so hopefully it will be something similar on Sunday.”
Kevin said it was a huge blow to Sligo with Stephen Coen suffering the cruciate injury. “Stephen is gutted the poor guy. From Sligo’s point of view it is a massive loss. He played excellent when he came on against London and is one of our top forwards in training and was unlucky not to start that day. He is a huge loss but I am sure he will be back he is a quality boy and I am sure he will be back next year.
“We need to bring a performance on Sunday, we cannot go into this game in second gear and be blown out of the water. Galway are one of the top maybe five teams in the country at the minute and we know they are going to be very hard to break down but we’re looking forward to the game,” Kevin added.